1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to semiconductor fabrication technologies, and more particularly, to a metal-line structure in an integrated circuit (IC) and a method of fabricating the same, which can help prevent the occurrence of extrusions along the sidewalls of the respective metal lines.
2. Description of Related Art
In VLSI (very large-scale integration) semiconductor devices, MOS (metal-oxide semiconductor) transistors are interconnected with each other and various other devices via a plurality of conductive layers called metal lines. These metal lines should be adequately isolated from each other so as to prevent short-circuits therebetween. As the level of integration rises, the isolation between the metal lines becomes very critical since these metal lines are made smaller and closer to each other. Therefore, any cracks in the dielectric layers used to isolate the metal lines from each other can cause bridging between neighboring metal lines. A conventional metal-line structure is illustratively depicted in the following with reference to FIGS. 1A-1D.
FIG. 1A shows a metal-line structure constructed on a semiconductor substrate 10, which is already formed with a plurality of MOS transistors (not shown) thereon. Next, a dielectric layer 12 is formed over the substrate 10. After this, a barrier layer 14 is formed over the dielectric layer 12 prior to the forming of a metallization layer 16. This barrier layer 14 can be formed from titanium nitride (TiN), titanium (Ti), tungsten nitride (WN), or the alloy of titanium and tungsten (Ti/W). This barrier layer 14 serves to prevent the occurrence of spiking between the metallization layer 16 and the substrate 10.
The metallization layer 16 is preferably formed from aluminum. Since the metallization layer 16 has a high reflectivity to light, which can adversely affect the definition of the pattern transfer in the subsequent photolithographic process, an ARC (anti-reflective coating) 18 is coated over the entire top surface of the metallization layer 16 to eliminate this problem. The ARC 18 can be formed from any non-reflective material, but is preferably made from the same material used to form the barrier layer 14 so that the process can be carried out in a more cost-effective way.
In this case, the barrier layer 14, the metallization layer 16, and the ARC 18 in combination are customarily referred to as a sandwich structure (from the fact that the metallization layer 16 is sandwiched by two layers of the same material).
As FIG. 1B illustrates, a plurality of photoresist layers 30 are then formed at selected locations over the wafer through a photolithographic and etching process. More specifically, these photoresist layers 30 are formed at those locations where a plurality of metal lines for the IC device are to be formed.
FIG. 1C further illustrates the subsequent step, in which an anisotropic dry etching process is performed on the wafer with the photoresist layers 30 serving as mask until the top surface of the dielectric layer 12 is exposed. Through this process, those parts of the ARC 18, the metallization layer 16, and the barrier layer 14 that are not covered by the photoresist layers 30 are entirely removed (the remaining parts thereof are herein and hereinafter designated instead by the reference numerals 18a, 16a, 14a for distinguishing purpose).
FIG. 1D shows the subsequent step, in which the photoresist layers 30 are entirely removed. After this, the combination of each metallization layer 16a, the underlying barrier layer 14a, and the overlying ARC 18a constitute one metal line (as collectively designated by the reference numeral 32). This concludes the fabrication of the metal-line structure over the dielectric layer 12.
In the case of FIG. 1D, for example, two metal lines are illustrated for the purpose of demonstration. This metal-line structure serves as metal interconnects in the IC device. Customarily, a second dielectric layer called a passivation layer (not shown) will be formed over the metal-line structure for the purpose of protecting the metal-line structure against corrosion and metal shortage. All the subsequent steps to complete the fabrication of the IC device are conventional processes and not within the spirit and scope of the invention, so description thereof will not be further detailed.
In the foregoing metal-line structure, the forming of the barrier layer 14a over the metallization layer 16a has the benefit of reducing the surface reflectivity of the metallization layer 16a that would otherwise affect the definition of the pattern transfer in the subsequent photolithograpliic process.
Moreover, it can help prevent the undesired occurrence of dielectric cracks and interconnect bridges in the dielectric layer 12 due to the occurrence of hillocks in the upward direction. Such hillocks result from stress caused by the expansion of the metallization layer 16a when the structure is subjected to heat treatment in the subsequent processes.
One drawback to the foregoing metal-line structure, however, is that the sidewalls thereof are in direct contact with dielectric, which would easily cause the occurrence of extrusions along the sidewalls of the metal lines 32 after the wafer has been subjected to a series of heat-treatment processes, such as the heat treatments used for the deposition of the dielectric layer, the forming of an alloy metallization layer, and the forming of the passivation layer.
In a high integration IC device, the forming of these extrusions easily causes cracks to occur in the dielectric layer between two neighboring metal lines, thus resulting in an undesired bridging effect (i.e., a short-circuit effect) between two neighboring metal lines. The resultant IC device may thus be unreliable in operation.